Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-23
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

about TO MOSCOW; an Epicurian Journey"
II is by John dell Bouton. He went to |
Russia to see it fairly, and fairly Judge it.
de came away convinced that the best |
prepara'Ave for crossing the Russian from
tier is co throw out of the carriage window
every English volume on Russia. For he
hobs that the Englshman cannot treat the
russian fairly. The American, however,
has no preiudices for or against Russians,
and of all men is best qualified to see and
Judge them. He confesses the astonish
ment he felt when he discovered how
greatly Russia had been misrepresented to
him. He declares it to be one of the most
religious of countries, if external indica-
tons are any guide, to be a temperate coun
try, and its officials to be considerable po-
lite, and not i'll pursuit of brides. The
rough" who infests London and Liver
pool is unknown in Moscow or ST. Peters
burg. The people are serious faced, but
this Is not sign OF national despair. :" 1t
/ is only the characteristic gravity of semi
0rientals, for such are the Russians.
| They are not down-trodden and, out Of
their 100, 100000 free souls, there is
a proportion of Nihilists no larger,
probably, than that of Socialists in Ger
many. Communists in France, 'Dyna-
miters III London, or Anarchists in Chi
cago The Car enjoys the confidence and
! love of the vast majority of his people.
| Russia may safely challenge the rest of Eu-
rope to exhibit a parallel to the compare
! tive progress, social and political, which
| he has made in the past thirty years
| When the Cossack waters his horse in the
Bosporus, and looks down into India from
| his outpost i'll the Solyman mountains
! jealous powers will lament his irresistible
advance. But Americans cannot share
| their regrets, believing that civilization and
/ 1ihprtN- hn hOrna in bic truir,
as in that of any other aggressive member
of the great European family" Mr.. Bou-
! ton says that he cannot echo that censure
/ of Russian institutions and aims which is
| the burden of so many English books and
magazine and newspaper articles. But l
have not gone out of the way to praise
Russia, or to do her more than simple
| justice" That far greater number of
Americans annually may include her in
their European rounds, and count their
| stay in Russia as among the most agreeable
episodes of their lives, is his sincere wish.
Mr.. Bouton's work to very many, proba-
bly, the majority of people. will be a sur
| prise. He paints Russia so differently from
! the usual observer, that at times one is led
to doubt his sincerity. But this slight
want of confidence soon disappears, for the
writer invariably restores himself TO favor
| by the frankness, simplicity and straight
| lOTNdIuutSS Vi Ills language. w men one
| has completed the book, he cannot doubt
that he has read truth as Mr. Bouton saw
and interpreted. 1t would have improved
the volume if he had given US more of his
! views of Russia and the Russians and less
| of the route scenes by which he reached
st. Petersburg. For he did not see Rome
greatly different from other travellers. nor
does his observations upon Italy generally,
or the Alps, or OF German cities, differ much
from the conventional, though they are crisp,
witty, and distinguished by clearness, con-
ciseness and diTectness of statement Mr..
Bouton believes that the Gar is anxious to
establish constitutional Government in
Russia, and thus relieve himself of seven
tenths OF the weighty responsibilities that
are wearing him out, aside from the dread
full menaces of Nihilism.
Haifa, or Life in Modern Palestine is
volume by Lawrence Oliphant, author of
the - Land of Gileadn Il is introduced
and edited by Chas. A Dana, and is pub
lished by Harper & Bros, New York, and
is for sale by A. l.. Bancroft & Co., San
Francisco. The book is composed of a
series of letters which went through Mr..
Dana's hands before they were first given
10 print lin the New York Sun, and by
whose advice they were subsequently
gathered together and presented in book
form. They all relate to the land of PBles-
tine, which is invested with such profound
interest for the thoughtful reader 1t is |
not only book full of Biblical interest
but addresses itself also to the antiquarian
and ethnolcgist, who win find in it new
thoughts, revelations and evidences in the |
field of those studies. Ohphant is a mar
rator of great skill, thinker of depth, and |
marsbals proofs in admirable array. His |
book is most agreeable and instructive |
reading and very different from Oriental !
recltals one usually meets with, since the |
author is an observer of practical skill, and !
a keen analyst of human nature. and sees |
things, and the reasons for them, the ordi- |
nary traveller in strange lands never per-
ceives.
Life and Times of Jesus as Related by |
Thomas Didymus :" by James Freeman |
Clarke Boston, Lee & Shepherd san |
Francisco, Samuel Carson Company: u |
mo-, cloth, 81 80. The book is intended |
to reproduce the times in which Jesus an |
peared, the characters who surrounded |
him. the opinions, beliefs and prejudices of |
the Jewish sects and people. The effort of |
the author has been to present Jesus not |
altogether as we now think of him. but as |
he probably appeared to the people of his |
own day, attracting some repelling Others |
1t IS work of wonderfully fine imagery, |
and in its construction an ingenuity is |
ltidhlltSb lDdl Is Vi lilt nlgnGSI OIApr OF |
literary skill. DR.. Clarke gave many years |
of study to the life of Jesus, and is one of |
the best commentators of the New Tesla |
ment who ever essayed the task Dr. |
Clarke has invested the life of Jesus with |
not new, but strange and dramatic in |
terest by this singular work, which is at
once narrative and q commentary on the |
four gospels.
The " Atlantic Monthly" (Houghton. |
Mitflin Il Co., Boston, for August presents |
these papers Personal Characteristics Of |
Charles Reade" f. II. House: =" The |
Growth of Materialism," George Frederic |
Parsons; The Second Son" NJ. o. W. |
Oliphant and T. b. Aldrich' serial Jean |
Francois Millet" Graham K. Tomscn; |
" Two Years with Old Hickory" Thomas |
II. Clay The Spell of the Russian |
Writers" Harriet Waters Preston; Z" One |
Hundred Days in Europe" Oliver Wendell |
Holmes serial The Mummy" paul !
Patotf," +. Marion Crawfords serial The |
Atheists Of EuIipides," William Cranstos |
Lawton The Goopherd Grapevine" |
Charles W. Chestnut To L. NJ. T, Alice |
Williams Brotherton; - a Mad English
man. Margaret Crosby, and the usual edi-
torial departments.
If one desire to learn how to see Europe |
on fifty cents q day. he should read Lee |
Merriwether's e. Tramp Trip, or How 10 |
See Europe on Fifty Cents Day" The |
tramper through Europe sees things delib- |
erately, with full time to study them; to |
mingle with the people, and penetrate be-
meath the surface. But then while he saves |
money he must have plenty of time and |
muscle. Merriwcther donned the blouse |
and hob-nailed shoes, and spent year 10 !
tramping from Gibralter to the Bosporus. |
Some of his experiences were published in |
letters to the New York World Philadel-
phia Press st. Louis Republican, and Other
journals. These letters, with a much
greater amount of matter, appear in the
book before us. New York Harper IL Bros.
San Francisco: A. l.. Bancroft & Co.
Episodes in Life of Adventure: or
Moss From Rolling Stone" is the title of
a pleasing work by Laurence Oliphant
from the press Of Harper d Bros. New
1olk., aud for sale BE- A. l.. Bancroft &
Co, San Francisco. 1t is series of sketches
Of travel in foreign parts, of military adj
ventures, political cross purposes, dramatic
events of touring and of life among the
scenes of greatest political activity in Eu-
rope and IN Canada. 1t is filled with breezy
sketches and crisp anecdotes. Oliphant
held Office under the English Government